Syria - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #24, Fiscal Year (FY) 2013

President Obama announced $339 million in additional USG humanitarian assistance for the Syria response on September 24.

The targeting of hospitals and medical personnel and the denial of access to medical care is increasingly common in the Syria conflict.

More than 500,000 people in Rif Damascus Governorate face limited access to water, food, and medical care.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

· On September 24, President Barack Obama announced $339 million in additional USG humanitarian assistance for the Syria response. The new contribution includes nearly $161 million through U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to support food, health care, the distribution of relief supplies and winterization commodities, shelter, psychosocial support, and gender-based violence (GBV) response, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) activities and other assistance inside Syria. More than $179 million will support food assistance, shelter, protection and psychosocial support, camp and registration services, health care, GBV prevention and response activities, winterization materials, logistics and relief commodities, nutrition, access to education, and other assistance for refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Egypt. With the announcement, USG funding for the crisis totals more than $1.3 billion, benefitting more than 4.2 million people since March 2011.

· The U.N. estimates that nearly one-third of the Syrian population has been forcibly displaced within the country and to neighboring countries by the ongoing conflict. More than 50 percent of Palestinian refugees from Syria are among the displaced.

· Clashes continued between Syrian Arab Republic Government (SARG) forces and opposition groups throughout Syria in the wake of the September 16 U.N. report confirming chemical weapon attacks in Rif Damascus Governorate on August 21. According to report findings, chemical and medical samples collected by U.N. investigators provided concrete evidence of the use of the nerve agent sarin in the East Ghouta communities of Ein Tarma, Moadamiyeh, and Zamalka.